Cursed
by Ellen1996
Summary: When Emma passes out in class, Gia realizes that something's horribly wrong with her best friend and goes to great lengths to find out what.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: **__**Hey everyone! I recently got sucked into the vortex that is the Power Rangers universe. I've watched both Samurai and Megaforce and I kind of prefer Megaforce because the acting in PRS seems so forced. Like, we know that those actors can act but they deliver every line so horribly wrong...Anyways, this is a Gia/Emma centered fic, because I love them. Let me know what you think!**_

**Chapter one**

The usually chatty classroom went dead silent as the Queen Bee of Harwood made her way inside. Gia rolled her eyes at the behavior of her fellow students and took her usual seat next to Emma, who was doodling in her math notes. She greeted her best friend with a slow nod, not expecting any reaction.

Last night had been a disaster; the five rangers were pulled out of bed in the middle of the night, having to sneak out of their houses to fight the monster that was attacking the city. It was an unknown enemy but they discovered quickly, using Noah's wits, that the monster had some sort of ability to make people fall asleep using powder. So when the tired rangers weren't paying attention, he managed to defeat them all. They all woke up at six, in the forest, two hours before they had to go to school, racing to their houses to make it look as if they'd been in their beds all along.

"Morning." Emma whispered back as she rubbed her eyes. Gia put a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. Because Gia was basically addicted to caffeine and had bought the largest coffee the store had, she managed to cope with the exhaustion pretty easily. But Emma, who wasn't the extravert type when it came to parties and staying up all night, was really suffering.

Gia's thoughts were interrupted by a boy stopping in front of their desk. The guy seemed like a jock and was eyeing Gia up and down. The yellow Ranger stared at him with a death glare. "What do you want?"

"Hey Goodall..." he turned to Emma. "...Would you mind if you and me switch seats? I want to sit next to your pretty friend."

Jake, who was in the back of the class and tired but not exhausted, couldn't stifle a grin. Apparently, that boy didn't know the two girls at all. He must've thought that it was a smooth move, but Gia rose from her seat. "Get lost, idiot." She growled at him. "And don't make me say it again."

"Jeez, relax! I was just trying to make a conversation! Besides, she looks worthless, she isn't going to be paying attention in the class! At least we can have a nice talk during math!"

Jake tensed. Every fiber in his body was trying to communicate with Gia. _Don't attack him, keep cool._

Gia stared at the jock while her eyes narrowed to slits. "You new in here, kid?"

He shrugged. "I just wanted to-"

She cut him off immediately. "Keep walking."

With an unsatisfied grunt, the boy walked off to the back of the class. Gia turned to her best friend immediately. "Emma, I'm so sor-..." she stopped herself when she saw that the girl next to her had her head on her desk and wasn't moving. Gia's eyes widened and she looked at Jake, trying to tell him what was going on with her eyes. The math teacher, who was sitting in front, trying to get the kids to shut up to start the lesson, didn't notice at all. Jake, however, got the message and got up from his seat quickly, raising his hand. "Sir? Could you come over here a second? I think my calculator got reset and I don't know how to change my settings."

The math teacher put his glasses on his desk with a melodramatic sigh and walked over to Jake, who motioned for Gia to make her move. The yellow Ranger smiled thankfully as she took her bag and Emma's and grabbed her friend by the shoulders, pulling her out of the classroom.

She opened the door to a supply closet in the hallway and pulled Emma in, locking the door and putting their bags on the ground. The brunette didn't stir. Gia crouched down next to her friend and shook her gently. "Emma...Emma, wake up."

The pink Ranger moaned, but didn't move. Gia's head became more and more clouded with panic as she tapped the other girl's cheek. "Emma! Wake _up_!" she tried again, but no avail. Eventually, she ran out of options and opened Emma's bag, taking the bottle of water she knew Emma had with her at all times. With a grim expression, she opened the bottle and poured the content over her friend's face.

She became lightheaded with relief as she saw the brunette choke, cough, and shoot upright. She wrapped her arms around Emma, unable to do anything else. The pink Ranger frowned at the other girl's actions.

"Gia...?" her voice sounded slurred. "What are we doing here?"

"You..." Gia tried to recompose herself. "You passed out in math. It has to be from fighting that monster last night. You're the only one in the group that needs that much sleep to function."

Emma closed her eyes and sighed. "M'sorry."

"No need to apologize, I was just worried. I kept thinking...what if he did something to her that he didn't do to us, you know? That goes through my mind a lot."

"Gia..." the brunette smiled weakly and put her hand on her shoulder. "I'm fine."

"Hey uhm...now that we're alone here...I forgot to tell you last night, but I had this weird idea." Gia said. Emma frowned but nodded, motioning for her to keep going.

"What if we... go on a BMX trip? Just you and me? We can hike and take the bikes with us."

Emma's eyes widened. "B-but...you hate BMX'ing!"

"No I don't!" The blonde scoffed. "I mean, it's not my favorite hobby but I don't _hate _it."

"You'd really do that with me?" Emma asked incredulously. Gia nodded, smiling. "It'll be fun. We haven't had too much Emma-and-Gia time lately, with all the fighting."

"Okay, let's do it!" Emma smiled. "This weekend."

"It's settled. I already asked Gosei and he says it's okay as long as we take our morphers with us, just in case."

Emma got up from the floor of the closet and winced at the stiffness of her muscles. Gia helped her up and steadied her until she was certain that Emma could walk on her own. As she turned the lock, she remembered the reason why they were there in the first place. "Emma, if you feel sick or anything...or you think you'll pass out again, talk to me, okay? I had to drag you out of math class, by now the whole school will know about it."

"Why did you drag me out? Couldn't you just have slapped me awake?" Emma frowned as Gia turned back to her. "No...You were exposed to monster powers last night, who knows what was going on with you...there might've been a chance that you'd have exposed yourself in the middle of math."

"Okay, stop it right there." Emma shook her head. "You and the guys were exposed too, you guys were knocked out too. What makes this so much about me?!"

"Do you remember a couple of days ago? The battle where the four of us were caught and you were on your own?"

Emma winced at the thought of that dark day.

"_Emma!" _ _The morphed pink Ranger turned around and raised her fists, ready to swing at the loogies her friends were obviously warning her about, but she froze when she saw what was actually going on. Troy and Jake were on the ground, trying desperately to free themselves from the ropes tied around their bodies. Noah and Gia were still fighting, but right before her eyes they were caught as well. The monster laughed devilishly as the ropes wrapped tighter, making the blue and yellow rangers cry out in pain. Emma looked from left to right, seeing the loogies come closer. But instead of fighting them, freeing her friends or turning against the monster on her own, she collapsed onto the ground, unmoving._

_Seeing her like that, Gia's head clouded with panic and she tried desperately to tug at the ropes. Feeling a new surge of adrenalin, she and Noah tried their hardest to break free, eventually succeeding. As Noah helped Jake and Troy get untied, Gia raced to the loogies that were attacking Emma's unconscious body. She slayed them all and eventually, they managed to defeat the monster. After that, all everyone had on their mind was Emma and how she'd managed to collapse in the middle of battle. As they took her to Gia's since her parents were out, Gosei managed to help them by giving them a crucial piece of information._

"He...he told us that during the battle, Tensou had noticed that your adrenalin levels and heartbeat had picked up unnaturally. Basically, he said that the reason you passed out probably didn't have anything to do with the battle but because of something you thought or remembered during the battle." Gia allowed Emma a moment to let that sink in. "We never told you because you seemed fine when you woke up."

"I don't know, Gia." Emma shook her head. "I don't know what triggered it. I can't remember. And it has nothing to do with what happened ten minutes ago; I'm just exhausted from fighting all night."

"Are you sure?" Gia looked concerned. "I can drive you home if you want?"

"No...I'll survive. "Emma smiled. "I'm a Power Ranger. We're tough."

"Still...if something's wrong, tell me immediately, okay?" Emma nodded at her friend's statement and the two of them walked back into math class, apologizing for their lateness to the teacher, who hadn't suspected a thing.

During lunch, Emma and Gia went to sit with their teammates who were all chatty and cheerful. Jake was telling a story about soccer and he had Troy and Noah at his lips. When the girls sat down, though, the black Ranger's attention turned. "Hey Emma, are you okay?"

She nodded quickly. "I'm fine."

"What happened?" Troy asked, his gaze flickering between Emma, Gia and Jake. Gia looked at Emma, unsure if the pink Ranger even wanted them to know. But she figured, since the whole school probably knew by now, it was best if they heard it from them.

"Emma passed out in math." Gia said slowly, trying to make it sound casual, but Noah and Troy's synchronized "_What?!" _ was enough to make a few heads turn at other tables. Troy looked Emma in the eyes. "What happened?!"

"I was just tired from last night, that's all." Emma said as she put a baby carrot in her mouth. The boys didn't look convinced, but a look from Gia told them that they were going to discuss it later. And that opportunity came about 15 minutes later, when everyone had done eating and Emma excused herself to the bathroom. Gia tried to insist on going with her but Emma shrugged her off, saying that she wanted to be alone. The yellow Ranger felt a pang of worry and guilt but she wouldn't let it show in the middle of the cafeteria. Instead, she turned to the boys.

"Okay, something's really wrong with her. I don't know what yet but I want to find out." She started. "That's the second time she's passed out in less than a week!"

"Maybe you're just overreacting? I mean, it's not like nobody here hasn't passed out yet after an attack." Noah, the ever-so-rational guy, tried to relativize.

"That's the thing. I don't think she's that more exhausted because of last night than us. And during the battle last Saturday, nobody hit her or attacked her. She just passed out spontaneously."

"What are you trying to say, Gia? That she's been passing out at random?" Jake asked. The blonde shook her head and bit her lip, trying to figure it out. "I don't know what's going on yet but I'm going to stay with her 24/7 now. I planned a BMX weekend, just the two of us, so that I can keep an eye on her."

"That seems like a good thing to do. And Gia, she's going to be fine." Troy comforted her. The yellow Ranger nodded quickly and sped off to the bathroom, trying to meet Emma on the way. She opened the door and washed her hands, trying to hear anything. She tensed and froze, however, when she heard weak sobs coming from one of the stalls. Her stomach doing a somersault, she recognized the sobs quickly as Emma's. She walked up to the stall Emma was in and knocked at the door. "Emma? Are you in there? Are you okay?"

The sobbing stopped quickly. "I'm fine, Gia. Go back to the boys."

"No way in hell am I leaving you alone like this. Emma, if you don't open the door in three seconds I'm kicking it in."

Gia heard the click of a door unlocking and she opened the door slowly. Emma was leaning against the side of the stall, clutching her head and whimpering in agony. Gia rushed to Emma's side immediately, pulling her out of the stall and looking at her. "Are you in pain? What's going on?"

The only thing Emma managed to do is whimper harder. Gia cursed under her breath as she took her phone to call 911. The brunette shook her head quickly. "N-no...no hospital, Gia."

"Jesus Christ, Emma, you look like you're about to pass out again, let me just do this."

"NO!" with a force Gia didn't know Emma possessed, the pink Ranger snatched the phone from her hands and threw it on the ground, the phone shattering on impact. Gia looked up, shocked. "Did you just smash my _phone_?!"

"Leave! Just...go!" Emma winced as a new surge of pain floated through her head, making it impossible to focus. But as quickly and sudden as it came, it was gone again. Emma tensed and stopped, removing the hands from her head and getting up from her crouched position slowly. Gia watched the entire process of about five seconds looking shell-shocked. This was the weirdest thing she'd ever seen, and it freaked her out beyond measure. Yet she knew that Emma hated hospitals, and she respected that. But she told herself that if Emma did one more funny thing, she'd call a doctor, at least.

Just when the brunette nodded that she was doing better and that it was okay, the bell rang, indicating that the afternoon lessons were starting again. Gia and Emma walked to their lockers to get their books and went to their classes. The afternoon seemed to race by, and before anyone realized it, the bell indicating the end of the last period echoed through the classrooms and corridors.

Just as the five teens were on their way to Ernie's Brainfreeze, Emma guiding her BMX by hand, their morphers all beeped simultaneously. Everyone sighed as Troy picked up his. "What is it, Gosei? Okay, we'll be right there." He turned around to face his team with a grim expression. "The monster from last night is back in the woods. Gosei wants us to defeat him properly and not let him get away again."

Nobody liked the prospect of dealing with this monster again, but since it was their duty, they had to. Gia stayed close to Emma, grabbing her hand to let her know that she wasn't alone. Emma noticed the gesture, but didn't respond to it verbally. Instead, she allowed Gia to guide her into the forest.

Right before they were about to morph, Troy stopped the group again. "Emma, you're not taking this one. You're still unstable, and nobody here wants to see you faint again. Stay here with our backpacks."

"What?!" Emma frowned. "You have to be kidding me! Last night we didn't even stand a chance with five Rangers, you won't be able to defeat him without me!"

"Just...let us handle this, Emma." Jake shook his head. "It's for your own good."

Emma, as a last resort, turned to Gia with pleading eyes. The yellow Ranger seemed to have a hard time with making a decision, but then sighed. "I'm sorry, Emma. I don't want you hurt even more."

The brunette scoffed, grabbed her BMX from the ground and sped off into a different part of the woods. The boys all looked confused but Gia felt immensely guilty.

"I have to go after her." She whispered. Troy shook his head. "Let her be, Gia. We can't win this fight with just the three of us. And I think she just wants to be alone right now."

Gia let out a deep breath, but got in line anyway and grabbed her morpher. "Go go Megaforce! Megaforce Yellow!" she morphed quickly, and then focused on the task before her. As the rest of the team morphed, she saw the monster's silhouette appear before her, and thought about Emma.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Thanks for the immediate response, guys. I love you all :D**_

**Chapter two**

With a smirk on his face and his Dragon Sword firmly in his hands, Troy delivered the final blow to the monster. The battle had been pretty long, but not tiring. The monster barely sent Loogies so the Rangers could focus on his destruction most of the time. A tight-knit team as always, they were outnumbering him big time. And now, the monster collapsed on the ground and disappeared. Gia, Jake and Noah joined Troy and they all demorphed at the same time, smiling.

Still, Gia couldn't shake the feeling that she'd let Emma down. So as soon as they finished celebrating, she took off. She hurried through the woods searching for her best friend.

"Emma! _Emma! _Are you in here?!" she yelled as she passed tree after tree. After a while, she had to give herself a break. Resting against a tree, she tried to catch her breath. She closed her eyes and felt the cool afternoon breeze on her moist skin.

A twig snapped to her left. She jumped away, her hand instinctively reaching towards her morpher, but found that it was just a rabbit, jumping out of the bushes. She sighed in relief and continued her way.

After what felt like ages to her, Gia stopped her searching with an unsatisfied grunt. Emma could've gone home as well, which meant that she was searching for a needle in a haystack. She turned around to walk home when she heard a faint noise. She closed her eyes and tried to use her Ranger instincts to find out where the noise was coming from.

She localized the sound somewhere to her right, so she started walking in that direction. She saw a large bush blocking her view and scuffled past it.

Behind it was Emma's bike. Or, at least, what was left of Emma's bike.

The pink BMX looked like a house had fallen on top of it. One wheel was bent; the other was lying a few feet away from the bike. The frame was distorted, it looked like it'd been dropped from a high altitude. Gia turned around and her stomach somersaulted.

Behind her was a slope. Not that high but pretty steep. The tire markings on it looked fresh, she could perfectly see where the BMX had fallen.

Now what she needed to find was the rider.

Stepping back a few feet, she found Emma's pink helmet in the bushes next to the mangled bike. It looked broken, but maybe that meant that Emma had been spared from the fall. As her gut clenched even tighter, she looked around.

"Emma! EMMA!" she yelled out, trying desperately to hear a response.

"I'm here!" came the weak answer. Gia exhaled loudly and ran to where she'd heard her best friend's voice. She entered an open spot in the woods where she saw Emma's slender figure sitting on a rock.

"Jesus Christ, Emma..." Gia started, not really sure how to respond to the situation properly.

"I wasn't paying attention and I fell, it's no big deal." Her back was facing the blonde, but she didn't seem to be turning around soon. Gia stepped a little closer and shook her head. "I'm not mad at you...I just want to know if you're hurt."

"I'm not."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Gia frowned. "Then, get up and come with me." The yellow Ranger circled her friend until she saw her face.

Emma's lip was split and she had a nasty gash on her forehead with some dirt in it. But other than that, she looked okay. Gia reached forward to touch the wound, but Emma slapped her hand away forcefully. "I said I'm fine."

"Okay..." The blonde knew better than to argue with her, so she wrapped an arm around Emma's shoulders and pulled her up. The brunette didn't show any signs of wincing or flinching so she assumed that the fall hadn't been as serious as she'd feared. Still, she was going to keep an eye on her. She walked her friend back to her BMX and she heard Emma sob behind her as she saw what was left of her bike. She turned around to see the brunette with tears in her eyes and trembling lip.

Gia's heart melted and she pulled the other girl in a hug. "Hey...It's okay, we can get you a new one, it's not a disaster..."

Emma mumbled something incoherently and buried her face in Gia's neck. The blonde sighed deeply. "We're still doing this BMX thing. I don't care where I get another one of those bikes but I'm getting you one."

The pink Ranger sniffed and stepped back. "You were right...to tell me that I couldn't help you guys face that monster...I'm sorry for being such a bitch about it."

"You're not in fault...nobody is. Don't feel guilty." Gia stated. "How are you feeling? We need to get that cut looked after, by the way."

"No, it's fine. I feel fine."

"Emma..." Gia stopped their movements and turned to face her friend. "You're not okay. I don't want to pry but lately you've been really weird and I just want to help."

Emma closed her eyes and shook her head. "Just stop asking, okay? I'm fine!"

"Okay, okay..." Gia dropped the questions in her mind and carried Emma back into the part of the woods where they fought the monster.

"This is yours." Gia handed a morpher to Emma. "You dropped it. I picked it up after the battle, I didn't want to get it in wrong hands."

"Thanks." Emma smiled as Gia handed her the object. She put it on her belt and looked at her friend. "Now what happens?"

"I guess...We could watch a movie or something?" Gia shrugged. The brunette beamed. "Do I get to pick it? Can we have popcorn?"

"You sound awfully cheery for someone who just plunged ten feet down a slope with her bike."

Emma glared at her, but then sighed. "I feel good, okay? Stop your worrying, it's annoying."

"Fine, fine." Gia shook her head. "Yes you can pick it, as long as it's not Bridget Jones Diary for the umpteenth time."

Emma raised one eyebrow. "That's a great movie."

"It gets kind of predictable after the twentieth view." She rolled her eyes playfully. Emma hit her in the arm lightly. "Careful with what you wish for."

"Well...If you really want to...and I can't believe I'm saying this...but we can watch it one more time, I guess."

Emma's eyes widened and she beamed, wrapping her arms around her best friend and holding her tightly. "Thanks, Gia!"

The blonde smiled. "You're welcome, miss Goodall. Hey, now that I remember it, could you believe that moron this morning?"

"What moron?" Emma asked, frowning. Gia looked at her weirdly, then realized that Emma probably didn't remember.

"Right before you passed out this morning there was a guy who insisted on switching seats with you just because he wanted to sit next to me."

"Right..." Emma looked down. Gia frowned at the sudden mood change but decided against responding to it. "I was totally ready to kick his sorry ass for being that rude to you."

"It's okay, Gia. Don't worry about it."

"It's really not okay, Em. I know it's not. But I promise I'll make it up to you this weekend."

Emma smiled. "You've got yourself a deal."

Gia laughed and held her friend a little tighter. Suddenly, her morpher beeped. With a loud grunt, she answered it. "This is Gia."

"A monster is terrorizing the city near the museum. Is Emma with you?"

"Yeah. We're on our way." Gia put her morpher back and looked at her friend. "Let's go."

"A-are you sure? I mean, last time they didn't want me anywhere near them." It was obvious that Emma meant the boys. Gia stared at her morpher, turned to her friend and repeated. "Let's go."

With a smile, the two girls raced off to the museum to fight the monster.

(...)

"Go Go Megaforce! Megaforce Yellow!" Gia yelled out as they almost reached the scene where the monster was attacking civilians. Emma grabbed her morpher as well and repeated Gia's action. "Go Go Megaforce! Megaforce Pink!" both of them morphed into their Ranger suits and rushed onto the scene. Gia looked around and frowned when neither of the three boys were in sight.

The monster, ugly as ever and looking like an ant, laughed. "I brought your three boyfriends to my colony, where they will be trained to become ants just like the rest of them!"

"Like _hell._" Gia grunted as she lunged forward and started attacking the ant. He jumped backwards and blocked her attack, defending himself with a hit that sent Gia flying. Emma winced at the sight of her friend being tossed onto the ground like a ragdoll. "GIA! I'M COMING!"

"NO!" Gia yelled back. "EMMA, don't MOVE!" but it was too late. The pink Ranger had already jumped forward to help her friend out. The ant laughed and moved his pincers quickly, catching Emma in his grasp and throwing her next to Gia on the ground. The yellow Ranger crawled towards her friend. "Emma! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Emma said, jumping back up. "We have to get that ant down, or we'll never see the boys again!"

"Come on, let's do this!" Gia and Emma both attacked again, in perfect synchronization, but the ant seemed too powerful for the two of them to defeat on their own.

When they were thrown away for the fifth time, Gia looked at Emma. "Okay, I'm going to distract it, you sneak up on it from behind." The two of them got up. "Battle gear, activate!"

"Tiger Claw!"

"Phoenix Shot!"

"Let's go, Emma!" Gia held her weapon and used it to guide the ant away from Emma's location. She was praying underneath her helmet that the plan would work.

The ant lunged at her. She blocked it with her Tiger Claw and sent out a kick and a punch, which the ant managed to reflect easily. As she swung her weapon at him, ready to destroy him, he grabbed her by the neck and pulled her up from the ground, raising her in the air. She choked, trying desperately to get some air. She felt all energy drain from her body as the ant looked at her through his insect eyes with a satisfied smirk.

Suddenly, she was dropped forcefully onto the ground again. She winced as she looked up to see Emma battling the ant on her own. Gia coughed, trying to get oxygen into her lungs again as she got up and grabbed her Tiger Claw, wanting to help her friend out again.

"I thought I had defeated you! I guess I was wrong!" the ant laughed as he attacked Gia one more time, the blonde dropping to the ground and demorphing, holding her stomach. She realized there that the battle was hopeless and that they'd failed. Then, a lot of light and sparks. Gia cracked one of her eyes open to see Emma battling the ant furiously, and by the looks of things she was winning. The ant fell to the ground and Emma towered over it, raising her Phoenix Shot and bringing it down onto the Monster's body, destroying it. The monster zapped back to his world and Gia, still on the ground, watched with wide eyes how Emma stared at the empty spot where the monster had been, dropped her Phoenix Shot, and fell to the ground, unmoving.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Emma's song from episode 6 has been stuck in my head for ages now. Any idea on when the rest of the season is airing?**_

**Chapter three**

"EMMA!" Gia crawled towards the girl, shaking her gently. From the corners of her eyes, she saw the three other Rangers, morphed and free, running towards them. Jake, the most athletic one, reached them first.

"Gia! There was this monster that put us in cages but we were freed like-..." he cut himself off when Troy kneeled down next to Emma, checking her pulse. He looked up at Gia from behind his mask. "It's there but it's faint."

"What do we do?" Gia asked shakily; her voice betraying the serenity she tried to show. Troy took a deep breath. "I think it's best if we take her to Gosei's command center. He'll know what to do about this."

Gia felt tears sting her cheeks and wiped at them furiously. The last thing she needed was to break down; she had to keep it together for Emma's sake. As Troy wrapped his arms around Emma to pick her up, the brunette stirred. Gia put a hand on her friend's cheek as she opened her eyes, blinked at the sky and looked at her surroundings.

"Gia?" she asked. The blonde nodded quickly. "I'm here, Emma."

"Are we...did we win?" she asked. The yellow Ranger laughed through her tears. "You beat the monster, it was all you."

"Are you okay?" Emma continued her questions. Gia put a finger on Emma's lips. "Shh...Everything's going to be okay. We're going to take you to Gosei; he'll know what to do."

"No, you really don't have to, I'm fine."

"Here we go again." Gia grunted. "Emma, you're not fine. Once was coincidental, twice was okay but this is the third time you've passed out and you'll do what we tell you or so help me _God _I'll hunt you down."

Emma went pale at the blonde's outburst and she winced. "I...I feel fine, Gia."

"Which makes this all the more concerning. Something could be seriously wrong with you, Emma. I don't want to see you hurt!"

The male Rangers demorphed and watched the exchange from a distance, looking uncomfortable but worried.

"You won't see me hurt if you just _shut up_!" Emma yelled at her friend. Gia's eyes widened. The tension in the area thickened. Noah stepped in-between them and looked at Emma. "She's trying to help, Em. You've been through a lot and she's just worried about you."

"If I say I'm fine, then I'm fine! If you guys think that I'm lying to you then I guess you don't trust me as much as I want. Maybe I should just quit this whole deal!" Emma grabbed her morpher from her belt and threw it onto the ground forcefully. The machine shattered into pieces and Noah jumped back in shock. Emma huffed, shook her head and walked off. Both Troy and Gia kneeled down immediately, trying to recollect the pieces of the broken morpher.

"Did she just _smash_ her morpher?!" Jake asked incredulously. Gia nodded quietly as she looked Troy in the eyes. "We need to figure out what's happening to her before it escalates."

"I think it's already escalated too much for my liking." Troy grunted back. He turned to Jake. "Try to find her, you're the fastest runner. Noah, try to contact Gosei; see if you can make a plan to get the morpher repaired. Gia, we're going to have a talk."

"Got it." The three other Rangers repeated in unison as everyone sped off into a different direction.

(...)

"Okay, let's get this lined up. A monster attacks us, manages to capture the four of us. She has to rescue us and faints. She's in math class after an exhausting fight, she faints. She's battling against a monster, defeats him and faints." Gia summed up quickly.

"What do these have in common?" Troy asked, rubbing his chin in thought.

"The only thing I can think of is me being there." Gia frowned. "But that doesn't explain anything."

"Maybe it's just the battles?" The red Ranger theorized. "After or during battles she passes out?"

"I don't think so. A day after she first fainted we had another battle and she was fine there."

Troy leaned back into his chair and stared at the ceiling, folding his arms behind his head. "We have to find something...what are we missing?"

"Was there anything special about the battle before the one where she fainted first?" Gia asked, getting up from her seat and pacing. "Maybe that monster did something to her?"

"It was just...it was Creepox." Troy remembered. "But he just tried to overpower us and he failed. He didn't use special attacks."

"What about that meteor shot?" The hairs on the back of Gia's neck got up at the thought of that attack.

"He didn't use it, for as far as I can remember. I think he was just-..." Troy cut himself off. Gia came closer. "What?"

"What if he was trying to get information on us? Maybe he collected information on Emma that the monsters used against her later?"

"What information would you get from a battle? They wouldn't even know the way she looked." Gia frowned. "But there is logic in your theory...Maybe they found Emma's biggest weakness and used it against her?"

"Yeah, that's the most plausible theory." Troy nodded as he grabbed his morpher. "Jake, do you have anything?"

"No...I'm still looking, though. But I've covered the biggest part of the woods and she's not here." Came the creaky answer.

"Okay, thanks. Noah, how's it going over there?" Troy continued.

"I spoke to Gosei about the morpher. He said that it can be repaired, but that it can take a lot of time."

"How much time are we talking?"

The blue Ranger sighed. "Days...weeks maybe."

Troy grunted in displeasure, but nodded. "Okay, thanks Noah." He put the morpher back and looked at his friend. "We'll turn her around, Gia. Don't worry about it."

"I know." The blonde smiled weakly. "I know."

The sound of her cellphone made her jump. She pulled it out and saw that she had one new text message. Her heart leapt at the sight as she looked up again to face Troy. "I-it's from Emma."

Troy craned his neck to try and read the message too.

_From: Emma Goodall_

_Are we still doing BMX weekend?_

"That is the most idiotic text message I have ever seen! She's in for a mouthful!" Gia went to text an enormous message about how ridiculous that question was and about how childish Emma was behaving, when Troy put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't...remember, it's not her fault. Whatever is happening to her, it's not her that's saying all this."

Gia grunted as she realized he was right. So, with his agreement, she typed a reply.

_To: Emma Goodall_

_I'll pick you up tmrrw morning at 6am._

As she hit the send button, she looked at Troy. "What should I do? Pretend that none of it happened? Talk to her about it...?"

"You should keep an eye on her for sure. If there's a monster attack, let us know. We'll try to do it on our own. Keep her safe, especially since she doesn't have a morpher." He sighed. "You should do what feels right, Gia. She's your best friend, you can read her like a book."

"Lately, I can't." Gia shook her head quickly. "Ever since she started behaving so weirdly."

The red Ranger didn't know how to respond to this, so he just sighed. "Will you promise me that you'll keep her and yourself safe? Because I know how overprotective you get when it comes to Emma. Don't do anything stupid, Gia."

She smiled up at him. "I won't, I promise."

(...)

At five to six AM, Gia jumped off her BMX and knocked on the Goodall's house front door. She knew that Emma was home alone this weekend because her parents were out of town for business.

Emma opened the door, dressed beautifully as always. Gia smiled up at her as she ringed the bell on her BMX, the bell being something she'd insisted belonged on any type of bike. "Ready to go?"

"Yep." Emma tapped her backpack and grabbed her helmet and spare BMX from the front porch. Thankfully her parents had insisted on buying her an extra bike, because Emma refused to get her driver's license and only transported herself by bike. So if something went wrong, she'd always have a back-up. The bike was almost identical to her previous one.

The two girls hopped on their bikes again and raced down the street, into the woods. Gia felt the morpher press against her back from inside her backpack but she told herself to think about other things. The serious subject wouldn't be good to talk about on a bike.

"Did you sleep well?" Emma asked Gia, who shook her head. "No, I saw every hour of the night. I've never had an insomniac like this. You?"

"I didn't sleep well either. You know...couldn't sleep."

"Yeah, it's weird." Gia frowned, but shrugged it off quickly. When they reached an open clearing, Gia told Emma to stop her bike to rest out for five seconds. Gia fished two granola bars out of her backpack and tossed one to Emma, who caught it reflexively and tore the paper off.

"I'm really glad that we're doing this." Gia smiled. An expression that Emma returned.

"Me too."

_**A/N: I hope to update daily. I'm planning on it, but I know that something always gets in the way.**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Sorry for the wait. Too excited for the new episodes! *dies* Oh, and by the way, I GOT ACCEPTED INTO MY DREAM UNIVERSITY! I'M STUDYING TO BE A SCREENPLAY WRITER!**_

**Chapter 4**

"Stop here! Stop!" Gia grinned when Emma wasn't showing any signs of slowing down. Gracefully as always, the pink ranger leapt off the bike and took a bow. Gia jumped off her bike as well and picked it up.

"The path is getting too rocky, we can't risk popping our tires. We need to go on foot from here."

"Whatever you say, Gi." Emma nodded at her and took her bike in her hands, walking along the path. Gia followed her, watching her intensely. Throughout the beginning of the trip and the ride into the woods, Emma had been very cheery. She hadn't been showing any signs of sickness or injuries, and it made Gia uncertain about the situation. Was she bottling it up? Was she really okay? Or was it just some alien messing with her brain?"

"...I don't get it. Do you?"

"What?" Gia snapped out of her inner thoughts when she saw Emma looking at her. The brunette rolled her eyes playfully.

"I said, I don't get how Jake can still have a massive crush on you when you make it obvious you're not interested."

"He's a really great guy and all, but I can't picture myself being in a relationship with him. And besides, I hate puppies. I don't want him drooling all over me. I'm glad I'm out here with you for a change."

Emma smiled at Gia's comment. "But still, he's not going to stop unless you give him a closing answer."

"I don't want to break his heart, Em. And we're part of a team of five. If we're fighting or not talking to each other; you, Noah and Troy will feel the consequences."

"I guess that's true." Emma frowned. "But this way isn't working either."

"I just...I want to put this off for as long as I can. Let's talk about something else." The pair stopped at a steep rock ledge of about 5 feet. Gia looked at Emma. "Are you okay in climbing over? The spot I saw is just past here."

"Yeah, sure. Let's do it!" Emma smiled as she put her bike down, strapped her backpack on tighter and started to climb up. Gia stopped her quickly by putting a hand on her chest.

"Easy there. I'm going first."

"Why?" Emma frowned. "You don't think I can pull it off by myself?"

"I'm not doubting your strength or whatever, Emma. I just want to make sure...that we're in the right spot before we start climbing unnecessarily." Gia pulled an excuse out of her sleeve in an instant. Emma didn't look thrilled, but stepped out of the yellow ranger's way.

Gia pressed her foot down onto one of the rocks to check if it was firm enough to put pressure on. When she saw that it wasn't giving away, she put her weight onto it and grabbed the grass on top of the ledge, climbing up and turning around. "It's here! Do you want me to pull you up?"

"I've got it!" Emma shook her head and leaned down to pass Gia the bikes first. When the two cycles were up, Emma started her short climb. She was up in no time.

"There we are. Is this the place?" Emma asked. Gia nodded, as she looked up, seeing that the night was beginning to fall.

"This is it. It's going to be pitch black soon, so the best thing to do would be set up the tent and stay inside. The weird animals come out at night."

"Okay, sure." Emma helped Gia set up the tent. The two of them managed to put it up in record time, putting their backpacks inside and the bikes against a nearby tree. Using a technique she'd learned through her father, Gia managed to start a fire from scratch. They cuddled close together as they stared into the fire.

"Let's play a game." Gia said after a while of silence. Emma looked up from where her head was resting onto Gia's chest, and nodded. "Okay."

"We'll each take turns telling each other a secret the other doesn't know. We're here, nobody can hear us so it stays between us."

Emma paused, but smiled afterwards. "Okay, you start."

"Sure..." Gia thought for a second. "I'm a pretty good swimmer."

"Really?" Emma lifted an eyebrow. "I never pictured you the swimming type."

Gia smiled. "I used to go swimming 3 times a week. I figured...if we ever needed it for ranger business, you should know."

"Yeah." Emma nodded.

"Your turn."

"Right...uhm...I'm really scared about being the weakest link in the team."

This made Gia straighten her back and tighten her grip on the brunette in her arms the slightest. "How come?"

"It's just...You and Troy are martial arts champs, Jake's a soccer jock and Noah's basically a genius on every scientific level...I'm just the one in the background."

Gia couldn't believe her ears. "Are you serious? Okay, Troy and Jake are really sporty guys, and Noah's very good at science...but that doesn't mean you're weak or bad, Emma! You're amazing...have you seen yourself in battle? You're the one that always has my back...if only you knew how many times you've saved our asses while we're in an attack...You're brilliant, environmental and you're smart. Without you, the team would fall apart."

Emma stayed quiet for some time. Then, she sighed. "Your turn."

Gia was getting the feeling that Emma was getting worked up about her reaction, so she acted quickly. "I'm afraid of my friends getting hurt badly...both on and off the battlefield."

The pink ranger lifted herself from Gia's body and stretched her neck, not verbally responding to Gia's statement. The yellow ranger frowned. "Emma, are-"

She was cut off by the sound of their morphers beeping inside their backpacks. Emma was the first to respond, zipping the tent open and reaching for her morpher inside her backpack.

"Gosei?" she asked hesitantly.

"_Emma, Creepox is in the woods on his way to you and Gia. The other rangers will never get there in time, you'll have to battle him on your own." _Gosei spoke. Emma looked at Gia, who nodded. "We can do this."

"We're doing it, Gosei. I'll call the boys if there's too much trouble." Gia, in the meantime, had reached for her morpher as well, and was ready to morph when Emma was.

The brunette winced as she lowered her morpher, feeling a headache coming on. Gia frowned, instantly worried. "Emma, are you okay?!"

A very selfish part of Gia was worried about Emma fainting because she knew that she wouldn't be able to handle Creepox on her own, but that part of her was scolded quickly as she saw Emma getting up. "I'm fine...It's just a headache. Let's morph."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Emma responded quickly. Gia sighed and joined her.

"Go Go Megaforce! Megaforce Yellow!" Gia yelled.

"Megaforce Pink!" Emma yelled out as well, as they both morphed into their ranger suits.

"Good luck." Emma whispered to Gia, who nodded and put a hand on her friend's shoulder to show her she was there for her. The bushes rustled to their right as the alien made his appearance.

"Rangers..." If Creepox could smile, he would be hysterical by now. But he just walked towards them, the pink and yellow ranger walking out to a more open spot.

"Where are your male counterparts? I'm only counting two of five?" he asked.

"They're none of your business, you moron!" Gia yelled at him. He laughed quickly.

"Did they abandon you, pink ranger, when they found out how weak you really are?"

"THAT'S IT!" Gia yelled as she lunged at Creepox, taking just a second to summon her Tiger Claw. Emma, however, was nailed to the ground, seeing the one-on-one battle in front of her, but not registering it.

"Hmmm..."Creepox was apparently enjoying the attention and hatred Gia was giving him. "Are you protecting your friend because she's too weak to fight, yellow ranger?"

Gia kicked, screamed and punched, but Creepox wasn't even recoiling. With one swift motion, he sent her flying. She hit a tree on the edge of the forest and grunted as she hit the ground.

"GIA!" Emma yelled as Creepox came closer to her, laughing devilishly. "Fight me then, pink ranger. If you're so determined to save your friend."

The alien picked up Gia's barely stirring body by neck and threw her down onto the ground once again. Gia coughed at the impact and grunted when Creepox put his foot down onto her to prove his point. Emma was still frozen.

"Emma?!" Gia yelled out weakly. "What are you doing?! Fight him!" The brunette was shaking, but Gia couldn't see her expression through the helmet she was wearing.

"I'm...I'm s-sorry..." Emma managed to croak weakly, before she dropped to the ground. Gia, now scared beyond measure at the situation, yelled out and kicked at Creepox, managing to free herself in an instant. As she pushed him back against a tree, he grunted. "The pink ranger looks like she has a serious condition."

Gia narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you know about it?!"

"Oh..." the alien was enjoying every second of this. "I know everything about it. See, I'm the one that cursed her myself."

"Why and how?!" Gia was trying to keep her cool, but it took all she had not to break down and beg him for the answer. With a slight glance to Emma's motionless body, she turned back to him.

"Why? Because she's the weakest of the team. I heard you denying it earlier, but we both know the true answer. You think she's as weak as I do. Just because she's your friend doesn't mean you should lie to her..."

"CUT THE CRAP!" Gia shoved him back against the tree, blind with rage. "HOW DID YOU DO IT AND HOW DO YOU UNDO IT?!"

"I found her weakness, and used it against her. There is no undoing." He laughed. Gia felt tears in her eyes and tried to blink them away furiously.

"This is boring me. I'm leaving." Creepox shoved her aside as if she were a ragdoll and stepped away from the tree. "Good luck, yellow ranger. You should care less about her." And with that, he disappeared. Gia, who had landed somewhere close to Emma, whimpered and got on all fours slowly, crawling towards her friend and demorphing at the same time.

"Emma...Emma..." she repeated as she held her friend in her arms again, looking up at the moonlight and praying to whatever was above them, that Emma would be okay soon.


End file.
